News from Italy: PHILATELIC VIDEO CONFERENCES DURING THE LOCKDOWN

Thanks to the initiative of Aniello Veneri and the prompt participation of a group of philatelists who used to have a monthly “philatelic dinner” in Rome that was suddenly cancelled because of the lockdown, a regular programme of video conferences is helping to overcome the absence of philatelic events, also at the social level. Each conference is staged using the Zoom platform and is based on a thirty minutes presentation on a specific subject, followed by a Q & A session among the participants. The first conference, on 2 April, was based on Emilio Simonazzi’s talk about Carlo and Emilio Diena and was attended by philatelists from a number of Italian locations as well from New Jersey. Its success resulted in a schedule of new events – one every second or third day – open to anyone interested in attending.

Another conference on 19 April led by Paolo Guglileminetti on the theme of “From the train, with the train” had 38 participants including some from abroad. Impressive!